Okay, if you’re an Indian cricket fan, you will want to know just one thing – Just Rishabh Pant get a game finally?
Well, no, Vijay Shankar, the man Indian cricket fans love to hate, is still playing! Can you believe that?
Yes, by the time you read this match preview, the national anthems will have been sung and the match will get underway. The Indian team selection has left a lot of cricket fans bewildered.
What’s happening? Why is a player who can barely bat, barely bowl and barely field getting a game ahead of India’s most talented young batsman?
We don’t know. But one thing is certain – Team India does not seem to have learned any lessons at all from the previous match against Afghanistan, which they barely won thanks to an outstanding bowling effort by Jaspreet Bumrah and Mohammad Shami. No thanks to the batsmen though!
The West Indies, unfortunately have flattered to deceive. They won their first match against Pakistan handsomely, but since then have done nothing at all in this World Cup.
They could have won the last match against New Zealand thanks a brilliant hundred by Carlos Braithwaite. But they lost by a whisker. That should have been the end of their World Cup hopes, but England’s defeats against Sri Lanka and Australia has meant that every team now has a chance.
But the Windies must defeat India. Otherwise it’s pretty much goodbye to their World Cup dreams. They will be without Andre Russell who has a bad knee injury. Evin Lewis has an injured hamstring in and will miss out.
Everything is now up to the Universe Boss, Chris Gayle. He is the only X factor in the West Indies line-up now that Russell is out. Gayle loves playing against India which is almost a home side to him, given that he spends most of his time there!
The Teams
India: 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 KL Rahul, 3 Virat Kohli (captain), 4 Vijay Shankar, 5 MS Dhoni (wk), 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Kedar Jadhav, 8 Kuldeep Yadav, 9 Yuzvendra Chahal, 10 Mohammed Shami, 11 Jasprit Bumrah
West Indies: 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Evin Lewis/Sunil Ambris, 3 Shai Hope (wk), 4 Nicholas Pooran, 5 Shimron Hetmyer, 6 Carlos Brathwaite, 7 Jason Holder (capt), 8 Ashley Nurse, 9 Kemar Roach, 10 Sheldon Cottrell, 11 Oshane Thomas
Match Conditions
The Old Trafford pitch has pace but flat enough for batsmen to score big runs. No rains predicted for today.
Prediction: Tight contest if Chris Gayle gets going. Otherwise easy win for India.
